


introductions of a sort

by spoke



Category: Chrono Cross
Genre: Gen, i had no idea i'd thought this much about how everyone ended up where they are, surprise headcanon!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-09-09 07:28:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8881357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spoke/pseuds/spoke
Summary: In which two characters have a meeting that is long overdue.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cryptographic_Delurk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cryptographic_Delurk/gifts).



Really, he just wanted to sleep. It was annoying enough moving around the damn monsters this late, he didn’t need the added complication of overhearing Solt and Peppor talking about anything. He tried coughing so they’d hear him coming and shut up, but no. That was expecting too much.

“I knowingly know she is up to no good, Solt! She is a Porre spy, she practically said so at the bar!”

“Yeah, but if we can’t shake up some proof, it’ll be our necks again.”

If anyone else had asked him what to do in this situation, Karsh would have told them to go to bed. Just ignore them and whatever they’re up to, and it’d either sort itself out or be somebody else’s problem in the morning, right? Most of the time, stuff tended to blow over. Or some idiot got himself eaten by monsters in the sewers, since nothing seemed to stamp out the rumor that there was treasure down there.

Except in this case he was the somebody else, and it would be General Viper telling him what his new problem was in the morning. It would be a lot better if he got their insane ideas sorted out before anyone could complain, or get hurt, or just have a new and interesting reason to mock the least popular members of the Dragoons. 

So Karsh braced himself to step around the corner. “Who exactly do you think is a Porre spy?” he asked, sighing as they both blushed fire-red and refused to meet his eyes. 

“S-someone we met down at the bar, Sir Karsh! She was talking about investigating the mountains beyond the Shadow Forest, and she definitely sounded like she was from the mainland!” Peppor volunteered to the floor, which made him miss Solt’s glare, as usual. If they ever started paying attention to each other, they might actually be dangerous one day. Or less dangerous to each other, at any rate. 

“But having a mainland accent doesn’t prove anything, you idiot.” Solt hissed quietly before turning to Karsh. “We don’t have any proof she’s a spy, sir, but I’m shaking convinced there’s something wrong with this lady. One of the people with her asked if she was going to check in on Marcy, and she said she wasn’t welcome at the Manor.”

Karsh’s eyes narrowed. “Did they, now.” He’d known for years that someone out there was sending Marcy money, and sometimes small gifts that seemed really bizarre. Flesh eating plants were not supposed to get that large, and they’d had to learn way too much about those things in the process of killing it. But every time he’d tried to ask Marcy where the things were coming from, she claimed she didn’t know with a roll of her eyes that said she actually did. 

“Right. You two get some sleep, don’t even try arguing with me!” He pointed down the hallway to the Dragoon’s barracks. “Just. Go. And I’ll talk to the lady, understand?” 

“Yes sir, Sir Karsh!” Solt almost bellowed, causing Peppor and Karsh to cringe. “You are a charmer, sir, I’m sure the lady will tell you everything.” 

Peppor gave him a look that wasn’t nearly so confident on the subject, and Karsh wondered if he’d worked out who this ‘lady’ probably was. Wouldn’t be surprising, since he was the more curious of the two, as far as that went. He’d been the one to find out it was carnivorous when he got swallowed headfirst, after all. 

Considering which, he’d be leaving this investigation until the morning. Who knew what he might have to fight when he found her?

* * *

The inn was dead quiet when he knocked on what was supposed to be her door. Pretty much no one was awake yet, which he’d hoped would give him an advantage, going in to discreetly interrogate a traveler. Except that she appeared to be an early riser, because this place didn’t feel like anyone was home. He watched for a minute more, hoping he was wrong and resisting the urge to kick the door in. It might have felt good, but it really wouldn’t help. 

Instead, he headed back out into the city, looking for any place that might give a good view of the mountains. There wasn’t much in town, though, and he ended up close to the docks, climbing a watchtower that was suspiciously unguarded... Zoah needed to have a word with these guys. Just because things seemed peaceful now was no reason to slack off. 

He knew he’d found the right lady from the weird telescope she was using. It was far too small to be any use at this distance, and there was a definite Porre look to it. The question was, did they give her that or did she filch it? 

“I am not here to spy on you, Mister Dragoon.” She said, in an accent he’d never heard before, that left him wondering why Solt and Peppor thought it was from Porre. “I am only going to the mountains to search for a specimen.” 

He snorted. “This wouldn’t be another man-eating plant, would it?” He asked, and glared as she straightened and slowly faced him. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. It’s ‘Mister Deva’ , by the way.”

“It isn’t necessarily carnivorous.” She muttered, eyeing him like he was under a microscope. Which he might be, with that monocle she was wearing. “That is part of what I am interested in finding out - how the environment may have changed that particular species, which is mostly harmless in other places.” 

“Huh.” He eyed her for a moment, and the telescope, and the mountains because it never hurt to let someone stew... but it didn’t always help, either. He wasn’t seeing any real reaction out of her. “How’d you know there was anything there?” 

“We’ve found the things growing in Porre. It isn’t a very common species, and it doesn’t do well there - I suspect it is too cold for them? I tracked down who had brought them in, and found out where from.” 

“And you just decided to come and have a look yourself, which had nothing to do with Marcy.” Which he knew it did by the way her eyes narrowed and she went completely still, but then he’d known that before he came up here. The question was...

“Yes, I had hoped to find out how she was doing. She doesn’t say all that much when she writes to me, Mister Karsh.” 

...and there was the answer. “So why don’t you just come up to the Manor to visit? It’s not like she’d chase you out or something, probably. Even if she hasn’t told us you exist. How do you know the kid anyway?” He asked skeptically, because if he knew anyone with no patience for science it had to be Marcy. And maybe he was looking at the reason for that.

“I don’t come up to the Manor because it is where General Viper lives and we have history.” She snapped, and moved to take down the telescope. “Also, it is better for Marcy if I am not close, I think I remind her too much of her mother.” 

“Whoa there, back up.” He said, thinking hard and fast. “Are you seriously a Porre spy? ‘Cause that might be why Marcy doesn’t talk to you, lady.” His hand shifted over to his axe as he wondered if coming here alone had been a mistake after all. 

For her part, she stopped dead in her tracks. “A spy? Seriously? I don’t have the patience with people for that sort of work, Mister Deva. I am a scientist.” 

She was eyeing his axe, he noted, but she didn’t seem all that concerned. Well, anyone who’d run into the boss and lived to decide not to do it again probably wasn’t a pushover. “Okay. History, you and Viper. Talk.”

“When there was still fighting between your General Viper and the pirate Fargo, did you know Fargo was married?” She asked, shifting her hand to her hip and watching his eyes now. 

“Yeah, to some mermaid from the demi-humans’ island, Marbule. She... fuck, are you telling me Marcy is bloody Fargo’s daughter?!” He blurted, and laughed harshly at her nod. “Well, that explains why she fights like a damn demon. And the blue element affinity. Doesn’t explain why she’s living in Viper Manor, though.”

The lady’s answering smile was twisted, and he thought she looked to be in a lot of pain for something that happened so long ago. “In the battle, we were all separated. I do not know what happened to his son, and I only learned long after that Fargo survived. Zelbess, Marcy’s mother? She died, and charged me with keeping her safe. I have my own problems with Porre, Mister Karsh, and I did not want to see her there, completely separated from her own culture and any chance of meeting her mother’s people someday. So I stayed in the islands long enough to find a home, and set up funds to see her cared for, and then...”

“And then you left. You actually left her here, basically alone, and went back to fucking Porre.” Karsh growled, and held up his hand to stop her as she tried to interrupt. “No! Don’t you dare, lady, do you know how many issues that kid has? I didn’t know she was Fargo’s damn daughter, which tells you how much she talks about her family! I met that kid when she was kicking a Dragoon’s ass for picking on a demi-human, and good riddance to him, and she earned her place in the Manor without ever giving us a clue where she came from. She’ll talk all damn day about her opinions but never about herself, and now I know why don’t I?!” 

He didn’t realize he’d been getting steadily louder until he paused to breath and took in how wide her eyes had gotten. Then it all snapped into focus, the hush that was less early morning and more listening ears, the fact that it was early morning and not pre-dawn. The sentry’s muted cough behind him as he’d apparently been woken up Karsh’s shouting. “Right. We’re going up to the Manor, lady, and we can talk about this with the General.” 

She nodded slowly, looking a little calmer and even slightly amused. Couldn’t fault her for lacking nerve, then. She’d need all of it explaining things to the General, let alone Marcy. He watched her folding up the telescope as he stepped away from the ladder finally, and noticed that it folded down to an impossibly small size. He’d probably been wrong about the range of the thing...

He snapped his fingers towards the man’s post and the sentry shuffled past him, the perfect picture of a man who knows he’s going to catch it later. 

As the lady came forward he asked quietly, “So I never got your name?” 

“It’s Luccia.” She said, climbing down ahead of him. “Coming, Mister Karsh?”

He stared a minute, then shrugged, figuring she didn’t seem the sort who was going to run at this point. “I don’t suppose you’ve considered defecting from Porre?”

She laughed quietly as he joined her on the street. “Technically, I already have.” 

Taking in her expression, and considering some of the things he knew about Viper and Fargo before the fall out, he grinned. “So, after everyone’s done screaming and wrecking the damn place, maybe we can talk about a proper expedition to those mountains you were eyeing. Couldn’t hurt to have better deterrents around the place.” He suggested, setting off towards the Manor without bothering to check.

This might actually be interesting, as well as helping Marcy calm down.


End file.
